OPINION
Ed Miliband is desperately trying to save his political skin (Image: HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
Ed Miliband, never one to miss a bandwagon, has now tried to appropriate the “Golden Era” sloganeering of Donald Trump — yes, that Donald Trump — in a pitiful attempt to convince us he’s a hard man ready to rescue Britain’s energy future. Sorry, Ed, but you’re about as convincing as a vegan at a Texas barbecue. The only thing golden about this era is the colour of the warning lights flashing on Britain’s energy dashboard.
Ironically, Winter Fuel Payments were cut in 2024 by Labour, excluding millions of pensioners as energy prices soared - directly caused by their insane Net Zero policies. Added levies, subsidies, and infrastructure costs ensued. While the government is now busy U-turning and restoring payments for pensioners earning ￡35,000 or less, many still face unnecessary hardship. This water-boarding of Gas (electric) lamping shouldn't be happening in the first place.
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Let’s not mince words: Miliband’s sudden embrace of nuclear power is just another desperate U-turn from a man whose dithering and dogma have left the country on the brink of blackouts. For years, he was the high priest of Net Zero, preaching the gospel of unreliable renewables while demonising domestic oil and gas. Now, with the grid stretched to breaking point and the public increasingly anxious about the cost and reliability of their energy, Miliband wants us to believe he’s the saviour who’ll keep the lights on. I think not.
The facts are as clear as a blackout: Britain’s energy mix is a patchwork of wishful thinking, missed opportunities, and political cowardice. In 2024, wind and solar provided just 27% of our electricity. On cold, still days — when we need power most — their contribution collapses. Gas-fired power stations, which Miliband and his eco-zealot allies have spent years denigrating, still supplied over 38% of our electricity last year. Meanwhile, coal is all but extinct, and new North Sea oil and gas projects have been throttled by endless red tape and outright bans.
And now, Miliband’s answer is a ￡14 billion gamble on Sizewell C, a nuclear plant that won’t generate a single watt of electricity until at least 2035 — if it ever gets built at all. This is the same Ed Miliband who, as Environment Secretary 15 years ago, promised a nuclear revival and delivered precisely nothing. The only new reactor approved in that time, Hinkley Point C, is now six years behind schedule and billions over budget. The idea that Sizewell C will be any different is pure fantasy.
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While Miliband fantasises about a nuclear future, the reality is that Britain’s existing nuclear fleet is falling apart. Five of our nine stations will shut by 2030, slashing our nuclear output by half before any new plants come online. The gap between supply and demand is a Grand Canyon, not a pothole. National Grid has already warned of “increased blackout risks” for winters ahead, and electricity demand is set to soar by 50% by 2040 as heat pumps, electric cars, and data centres pile pressure on the system.
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It didn’t have to be this way. Across the Channel, the French saw the writing on the wall decades ago. With no oil, no gas, and depleted coal reserves, they built 56 reactors in 20 years. Today, France gets 70% of its electricity from nuclear power, and exports energy to neighbours like us. They have energy security, low emissions, and a thriving nuclear industry. We, on the other hand, have managed just one new reactor in 30 years — and now have to pay the French to build Sizewell C for us.
Britain’s decline as a nuclear power is not just a story of lost expertise, but of political cowardice and short-termism. The North Sea oil and gas bonanza of the 1980s and 90s made nuclear look expensive, so successive governments — both Tory and Labour — kicked the can down the road. Now, with domestic production waning and global prices volatile, Miliband’s government has doubled down on green dogma, banning fracking and new oil and gas licences just as we need them most.
The British Geological Survey estimates up to 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas lie beneath our feet — enough to power the country for decades. In the US, fracking has slashed bills and made America the world’s top gas exporter. Here, Miliband’s government banned it outright, leaving us at the mercy of foreign suppliers and volatile markets. It is a self-inflicted wound of epic proportions.
Meanwhile, the much-vaunted renewables revolution has seriously failed to deliver. Wind and solar are not saving us. In 2023, wind farms produced just 15% of their theoretical maximum output during key winter weeks. What a surprise! Solar panels generate almost nothing in December and January. Battery storage can only cover a few hours’ demand — not the weeks of cold, still weather Britain faces every year. The result is a grid that is fragile, expensive, and dangerously exposed.
Miliband’s sudden embrace of nuclear is not a masterstroke, but an admission of defeat. It is too little, too late. The planning, construction, and commissioning of new nuclear plants takes decades, not years. Even the most optimistic projections put Sizewell C’s completion in the mid-2030s. By then, Britain will have lost half its existing nuclear capacity and will be even more dependent on imported gas and electricity.
What Miliband should have done — what any competent Energy Secretary would have done — is ensure a balanced, secure, and affordable energy mix. That means embracing nuclear, yes, but also supporting domestic oil and gas, investing in new technologies like small modular reactors, and — not abandoning proven sources of energy in pursuit of unachievable cultish and fantastical green targets.
Instead, we have been left with a patchwork of failed policies, soaring bills, and a very real risk of the lights going out. Miliband’s “golden era” is a mirage. The reality is a new dark age, brought about by years of dithering, dogma, and delusion.
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If Red Ed really wanted to fix our energy system, and with it our economic future and perhaps salvage shreds of his own dignity, he would follow Farage's lead and kill net zero.
Turbines fed by fracked gas could be delivering power at a third of the current cost by the next election to communities in the heart of the Red Wall!
Britain deserves better. We need energy security, not green pipe dreams. We need leadership, not empty promises. And we need it now — before it’s too late.
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